South Canterbury secure first win of rep cricket season

Prabodha Arthavidu batting No 3 took South Canterbury to victory with an unbeaten 72 against North Otago

An unbeaten 72 from Prabodha Arthavidu following 57 off 32 balls by Captain James Laming led South Canterbury to their first win of the season over North Otago.

In South Canterbury’s final hit out before the Hawke Cup campaign begins, most things went their way after winning the toss and asking North Otago to bat first. They were able to field in what little sun was available and then watch from the somewhat sheltered sidelines as the batsmen took on the North Otago in miserable conditions as the predicted southerly settled in at Aorangi Oval.

North Otago began well before losing their first wicket with the score at 40 in the 8th over. The second wicket to fall was the other opener with the score at 74 when he retired hurt with a swollen elbow and then when Grant Watt removed the often dangerous Ben Cant without scoring, North Otago were effectively three down.

Watt bowled a tight spell only conceding 13 runs off his 9 overs, while at the other end Kevin Teahen bowled with his usual consistent line and length troubling all the batsmen as he finished the best of the South Canterbury bowlers with 4-37 off a long spell of 13 overs.

At 144-8 with only six overs left, South Canterbury took a bit of stick as North Otago added a further 36 runs to finish their 50 overs on 180 and leave South Canterbury a tougher chase that they would have hoped.

The South Canterbury innings started in T20 style as James Laming played some devastating shots to seemingly good deliveries scoring 48 of his 57 runs in boundaries before he was the second wicket to fall with the score on 80 in just the twelfth over.

The loss of Laming put the pressure back on Prabodha ‘Artha’ Arthavidu who was battling to find his usual touch, but in a good show of determination he battled on.

He lost three partners to the left-arm spin of Jordan Horrell and had a life himself as the score crawled to 103-5 before getting some support from Zane Sanders.

Just as the pair had started picking up the scoring rate Sanders ran himself out in a terrible mix-up and North Otago were suddenly in the stronger position as South Canterbury slumped to 126-6 and then 129-7 with the target still fifty runs away.

Ben Watson joined Arthavidu and contributed equally to the next partnership before being dismissed for 18 but importantly had helped get his team to 163 and within 18 runs of victory.

Kevin Teahen came and went and Arthavidu then took even more control making sure he kept strike with South Canterbury nine down, receiving 17 of the final 19 balls delivered.

The equation became 9 runs off three overs when Arthavidu had hearts racing as he drove in the air to mid-off, but for the second time the Sri Lankan Gods were watching as a simple catch was put down. He stayed where he was on strike and made no more mistakes hitting two boundaries to tie the scores before grabbing a quick single to win the match for his adopted province and have his team mates smiling happily despite the cold day.

The pre-season matches are over and the next game is the first round of the Hawke Cup against Mid Canterbury in Ashburton in two weeks time, and the selectors will have a couple of decisions to make before they decide on the final playing 12.

South Canterbury Representative Cricket - December 7, 2014
50 Over One Day Senior Representative Match

South Canterbury v North Otago at Aorangi Oval
Toss won by South Canterbury who chose to field.